ITALIAN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SONGS and DUETS
Sung by BEATRICE BEAUFORT and JANET CHRISTOPHER
(An article on Italian Opera of the seventeenth century appears on page 42 2) FLORENCE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
GIULIO CACCINI was the 6rst to give importance to music for a single voice. He composed and sang recitatives at musical assemblies in the great houses of Florence, and was the first to attempt to make music dramatic, and to use it as the expression of emotion.
In 1600 with JACOPO PERI (1560) he published
Euridice. This was the beginning of modem opera. The first performance of Euridice was commissioned for the occasion of the marriage of Henri IV and Maria di Medici, and performed by Caccini's pupils.
MARCO DA GAGLIANO , (1575) was a very important musician in Florence in the early seventeenth century. He founded a music academy and became the centre of musical life there.
ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI (1659) was one of the most important figures, not only in the history of opera, but in the entire history of music. Ho was the precursor and teacher of many eighteenth-century musicians, among them Pergolesi and Durante. He had an immense influence and held positions in most of the important centres in Italy during the latter half of the century. In 1702 he was organist in Florence.